Andre Harrell (born 9/26/1960 in Harlem, New York) is an American entrepreneur and founder of the now defunct record label, Uptown Records. Harrell also served as president/CEO of Motown Records. He was also the first half of the hip hop duo Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde.

Harrell grew up in Bronx, New York. When he was a teenager, Harrell and Alonzo Brown, his high school friend, formed a rap/ hip-hop duo named Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The group achieve ... Show More d success with three major hit songs "Genius Rap," "Fast Life," and "AM/FM." Despite this early success in the music industry, Harrell had other career intentions and he continued to pursue his study by attending in Lehman College in Bronx. There he majored in communications and business management, as he wanted to become a newscaster. After three years, he dropped out of college and went to work for a local radio station.

In 1983, Harrell met Russell Simmons, the founder of Rush Communications. He came to work for Rush and within his two years became vice-president and general manager. After a few years working at Rush, Harrell left Rush Management and founded Uptown Records, where he was responsible for discovering and hiring Sean "P-Diddy" Combs. In 1988, Mary J. Blige recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up In the Rapture" at a recording booth in a local mall. Her mother's boyfriend at the time later played the cassette for Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records. Redd then sent it to Andre Harrell. Harrell met with Blige and, in 1989, she was signed to the label; becoming the company's youngest and first female artist.   Hide

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